


Lunch Date + Surprises + Risk

by Anonymous



Series: Mac + Desi + Zayn [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Bisexual!Desi, Getting Together, Lunch date, Multi, Pansexual!MacGyver, Polyamory, Self indulgence, nonbinary OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 10:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18939301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Mac meets up with Desi for that lunch she wanted, to swap stories. Only he finds out a little more than he anticipated.





	Lunch Date + Surprises + Risk

_“I know what you mean, Egghead.”_

He’d said it wasn’t a date. She’d said she knew. And yet here he was, running late because he couldn’t decide what to wear and palms sweating nervously as if it was a date.

Mac just...really liked Desi. She was smart, and stubborn, and she made him laugh, and she always had his back. And he sort of kind of wanted to kiss her, if he let himself think about it too hard, even though the last time he’d dated someone he worked with it’d gone...bad, to say the least.

He pushed thoughts of Nikki out of his head and pushed open the door to the cafe Desi had suggested.

It was quiet and mostly-empty, so the sound carried. From a booth in the back, he heard an exasperated sigh. “Desi, do you have to do this to _every_ guy that shows interest in you?”

“Yes,” came Desi’s familiar voice.

Mac felt his heart drop, and he almost turned around and left, but curiosity won out, the way it always did. What did Desi do to every guy? How many guys like Mac were there, anyway, awkward and fumbling and lost in her attitude?

“Besides,” Desi added, sounding pretty smug. “He asked for this.”

“Did he really?” asked the other person, and while Mac couldn’t see them, he could practically hear the eyeroll.

Desi laughed. “He doesn’t know it, but he asked to meet you.”

He reached the booth and slid into the empty side, staring across the table. “Hey, Desi,” he greeted, then stared at the person sitting next to her, sipping a lemonade. They had cherry red hair and looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place them. “Hey…”

“This is my girlfriend, Zayn,” Desi introduced. 

Mac spluttered, not remotely prepared for that. “Girlfriend?” Desi grinned.

Zayn crossed their arms tightly, sighing. “‘Girl’ isn’t completely accurate but Desi really likes people’s reactions when she says that.” They glared at Desi. “You didn’t tell me it was _Macgyver_.”

“I know you...” It was halfway between a statement and a question.

Desi was the only one who seemed to be enjoying this. “Zayn is a lab tech at Phoenix.” She turned to Zayn. “I didn’t realize you knew him,” she added, but Zayn seemed unconvinced, and Desi’s shit-eating grin didn’t help.

“I worked with Jill, when she was around,” Zayn cut in. “Also, you _know_ I know him, we’ve” - they glanced awkwardly at Mac, changing tracks rather quickly - “he’s Oversight’s son! He’s a fucking legend, Des.” They put their head on the table. “I swear to God you’re going to kill me. We work at the same place for a couple months and I’m already fucked.”

Mac snapped his fingers. He’d definitely seen them around. “Oh, that’s how I know you.”

Zayn sighed loudly. “Oh great, he remembers me.” 

“You’re so dramatic, babe.” Desi leaned over and ruffled their short, curly hair. “C’mon, sit up, I want this to be a nice time with two of my favorite people.”

Mac was glad to be included in the two, but if Desi thought - knew - he had feelings for her, this was...not the easiest way she could’ve let him down.

The waiter came by and took Mac’s order. He got a milkshake and a special grilled cheese at Zayn’s suggestion, which was five words they said to him before again turning pointedly away.

“So...what’s going on?” Mac asked after a tense beat of silence. He got the distinct feeling Zayn did not like him - maybe because they knew about his crush on Desi - and he almost wanted to leave, but that would be rude. 

Desi smirked. “You wanted to know why I owe Jack.” She jerked her thumb at the grumpy redhead. “This is why I owe Jack.”

Zayn snorted. “That’s what this is about?” They shook their head. “ _Any_ warning would’ve been nice. You’re lucky I wore what I did.”

The outfit in question was a tank top with a loose gauzy fabric over it, which Zayn slipped off their arms. They turned around so Mac could see their back, which had a long line of angry white scars against their olive skin, criss crossed by ink. The scars ran along their spine and shoulder blades, then dipped below the neckline of their top, but Mac would hazard a guess that they continued further down.

“I used to do Field Work,” they explained. “Before that whole thing.” They turned back around, pulling their cardigan back over their shoulders. “Desi and I worked together. She was assigned to protect me while I cracked open some tech and had a look inside. I’m good at educating, and my memory ain’t bad, so that’s the sort of stuff they used to have me do. Analyze tech, remember it, explain how the maker did it and how to replicate it.”

“I have a thing for reckless geniuses,” Desi joked, flashing Mac a flirtatious grin that he didn’t know what to do with. “I fell in love with them.”

“I thought she was kidding.” Some of the tension melted out of Zayn’s shoulders and they offered a small smile. “I mean, look at her. Someone that attractive and badass could never be into an awkward nerd like me.”

Mac was pretty sure they were underselling their own beauty, but that wasn’t really the point. And he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t had pretty much the same thought about Desi.

“And then I kissed them and they knew I wasn’t.” Desi smiled softly, tucking her arm around Zayn’s waist. “But...shit goes wrong in the field. One time I was the only one close to Zayn on an op, and they got taken by a group of local terrorists. Not even the reason we were on the op, just bad luck of being brown in Europe.”

They winced, rubbing at their shoulders. “Bunch of racist-ass white nationalist Austrians. I looked like the people they hated, but I didn’t speak Arabic well. My dad never taught me. He preferred French. They tried to intimidate me, tortured me. Told me I didn’t belong in their country. The usual.”

Desi paused a moment to kiss the top of Zayn’s head and whisper something soothing in their ear. Mac felt his heart ache watching, but not in an altogether unpleasant way. He wanted Desi to kiss him like that, but he wasn’t _jealous_ of Zayn, per se. Hell, he wanted to comfort them, though he figured it wouldn’t be well received as he’d talked to them at work all of three times.

He had, in fact, thought they were very attractive all three of those times, but had never managed to track them down to actually talk. And then he disappeared for months, got together with Nasha, and he hadn’t exactly been looking to pursue anything or even think about the States.

“Jack was on leave but we knew each other. I don’t know who called him; it wasn’t me. But he came to find me and I was going absolutely crazy.” Desi swallowed, showing the slightest cracks in her easy attitude. Zayn was still leaning against her. “Remember how I said I don’t like to kill? I killed _a lot_ of people there. Anyone I could find who seemed remotely useful, I’d track down, and then if they didn’t help or they fought back, anything like that, they died.” She shrugged. “I don’t mourn a bunch of white supremacists, but it did a number on my psyche.”

“Wow.” Mac didn’t know what else to say, except to thank the waiter who brought his food. He took a bite and realized Zayn had been right about the Grilled cheese.

“Jack found me tearing up the whole earth looking for Zayn. And he saved me from doing some really dumb shit that almost got me killed.” Desi shook her head. “And then he helped me find them and save them, and put all those jackasses away for good.”

“He also got me the job at Phoenix,” Zayn added. “They fucked up my nerves, somehow, so I’ve got chronic pain now, and field work isn’t really an option anymore. I had very limited usefulness to the US government besides that - I’m basically a nerd teacher - so Jack asked Matty and got me a job in the lab.”

There was a break in the story, so Mac chose to interject, “I’m glad you came to work with us.” Zayn rewarded him with a shy smile that made his heart do a little jump, and honestly, he wasn’t even mad at this point; Desi had fantastic taste.

“I took leave, did a bit of work here and there, took care of our cat,” Desi added. “And then Jack asked me to cover for him, and I said why not, and here we are, boy genius.”

“You have a cat?” Mac asked.

Zayn’s eyes lit up. It was the right question. “Yes. Her name is Puff, short for Public Universal Friend.” they dug into their pocket and whipped out their phone, scrolling through pictures of a small and stripey orange cat. “She’s an Arabian Mau and we adopted her together when we got back.”

“Public Universal Friend?” Mac asked, and Desi snickered.

“Yes. She’s named after a genderqueer person from the 1700s, who claimed they had died and come back as a genderless evangelist.” Zayn stared him down as if daring to challenge.

“Puff is a good shorthand,” he said, hoping to reassure them. He got another smile. “So Desi, I didn’t know you have a spouse and kid,” he joked. 

“Now you do,” she replied with a smile.

Zayn ate a fry off Desi’s plate. “She always does this. She never tells anyone anything. She didn’t even want to tell me stuff at first.” They stuck a finger at Desi. “Brag about me, goddammit.”

Desi laughed, chasing them for a kiss. “Well, now I can brag about you to Mac all the time.”

Suddenly, something clicked in Mac’s head. “Is this who you had a date with that night?”

Zayn made a choking laugh in their throat. “Oh my god. You saw him before our date. That’s why you wore that damn dress.”

Desi held up her hands in mock surrender. “No, babe, I definitely wore it for you.” She smirked.

“Bitch, that ‘Date’ was picking up take-out and watching stupid action movies you like on our couch. And you bitched about being uncomfy and you changed halfway through.” They started cracking up. “Oh, my god, Des.”

“I wanted to look fancy for you!”

“I was wearing _pajama pants_!” Zayn could not stop laughing, and when they laughed hard enough, they snorted, which Mac found kind of adorable.

Here he was, at lunch with a woman he’d been interested in, and now he was thinking about how cute her partner was. That was not how he’d imagined this day would go.

“I showed you mine, MacGyver. Now you owe me yours.” Desi’s voice snapped him back to the present, and her tone was more than a little suggestive. Zayn seemed unbothered by it. “Tell me about Cairo.”

“Us,” Zayn corrected, sticking their tongue out at Desi. “Since apparently I was a pawn in this agreement of yours.”

“You’re so dramatic.” Desi chuckled, shaking her head. “Go on, Mac.”

So he told her the story of him and Jack in Cairo, all the gritty details. The fact that Zayn was dramatic made the story more fulfilling to tell, honestly, because they gasped and reacted at all the right moments. He felt pretty cool.

“Told you you’d enjoy this,” Desi said when he was finished, giving Zayn a long kiss on the neck that Mac can’t quite tear his eyes away from. There was something about her smirk that signaled she knew she had an audience, and he didn’t quite know what to make of it, and this was halfway between heaven and hell.

Zayn pushed her away lightly, rolling their eyes. “You always do this,” they said, in the same tone they’d used when Mac had overheard them on his walk in. 

“False,” Desi responded. “He’s still here. No one else has stuck around long enough for me to do this.”

In retrospect, Mac wouldn’t have been able to tell you how or why, but that moment was when he found it inside himself to ask, “What are you talking about?”

He would’ve thought Desi would answer, but Zayn was the one to cut in first, putting their glass on the table a bit too hard. 

“You’re interested in Desi,” they said, getting straight to the point. He tried to deny it, but they just rolled their eyes at him, more or less the same way they rolled at Desi. “Shut up. I know you are, she knows you are, you know you are.” They locked their arms behind their back and stretched, pushing their chest forward and closing their eyes. “I’m not mad. I’m never mad. But there have been three guys before you, and every time it looks like one of them is getting up the guts to ask her out, she does it first. And then brings them on a date to meet me, her significant other.”

“Not exactly gentle, are you?” Mac snorted. It stung, for sure, but at the very least he’d made another friend.

“This isn’t rejection,” Desi replied cryptically, giving him another smirk.

“Not for you, anyway.” Zayn refused to open their eyes, wincing slightly. He didn’t really know what that meant, but he kept his mouth shut, because it looked like they had more to say. “Desi didn’t like the first one. She knew he was homophobic. So she decided the best way to let him down was to tell him the girl he was into was bi, and invited me on a date. She warned me about that one, at least.” Zayn sighed. “The second dude didn’t mind the bi part, but kept misgendering me and fetishizing the shit out of us. She didn’t like him, either, but it was still no fun. The third dude, she actually had minor feelings for. And she wanted to see if he’d be cool with me. But when she said the word ‘polyamory’ he prattled on about how it was ‘unnatural’ and then just stood up and left.” 

“Oh.” Mac didn’t know what else to say.

“Which leads us to the fourth man, who she also actually really likes: you. And if I could ask you to get up and go before you make any snarky, demeaning comments, for both Desi’s sake and mine, that’d be nice.” Zayn finally opened their eyes, then, staring pointedly at the spot above his head on the wall. There was incredible tension in their jaw, and their eyes seemed almost watery; Desi nearly pulled them into her lap, mumbling chagrined apologies about how she didn’t realize how much it upset them.

“It’s not your stupid game,” Zayn ground out. “It’s the fact it’s goddamn Angus MacGyver.”

He pulled a paper clip out of his pocket and started to fidget. “What if I don’t want to get up and go?” he asked softly. His plate was empty, and his milkshake half-drank but forgotten. All he could focus on were the two in front of him.

Desi turned back to him sharply, uncharacteristically angry. He sank back in the seat a little. “Don’t. Don’t fuck with them,” she snapped, and he wondered if she realized that she was taking all the anger at herself out on him.

He shouldn’t. He shouldn’t kiss the girl Jack sent as a replacement, shouldn’t get involved with a coworker - hell, two coworkers - shouldn’t pretend he has any clue how to navigate a relationship with two people, let alone three. 

But he wanted to. “I’m not.” He took a deep breath and reached out to grab Zayn’s hand. Desi looked about ready to slap him for that, but Zayn squeezed back. “I don’t - I’m not gonna pretend I know how any of this is supposed to work. But I like Desi, and the fact that she’s dating you does not make me want to date her less.”

And then a couple tears did leak out, and a shaky sob. Mac winced, pulling out a second paper clip and increasing his one-handed fidgeting. “What did I do? What did I say?”

“You’re the first” - Zayn took a steadying breath - “the first person to not act like there’s something wrong with us.” Their voice dropped. “With me.”

Desi blew out a breath. “I’m sorry, Zayn.” She turned to Mac. “They always take it hard when someone says something dickish. It doesn’t bother me, but it goes straight to their heart. If someone thinks my relationship is wrong, fuck them, but...Zayn…”

“I spent too damn long feeling like I’m broken.” They set their jaw. Their hand was still clasping Mac’s. “And I don’t want to anymore.”

“You’re not,” Mac replied, because he knew a thing or two about feeling broken. “You’re perfect exactly the way you are.” He didn’t know them that well, sure, but he did know that.

Desi laughed. “You passed the test, MacGyver. You’re good to my spouse.” The smile she gave him was soft and genuine, devoid of her usual slyness, and then she buried her face in Zayn’s neck again, pressing soft kisses into it. “That you were so shocked I had. What, didn’t think a girl like me could be bisexual?”

“That’s not it,” Mac replied. “I mean, I’m pan. More like you never talk about anything in your personal life so I was shocked to find you have a serious relationship.” He gave Zayn a winning smile. “Especially with someone so worthy of bragging about.” Sure, he was laying it on thick, but they’d said it themself, and he wanted the to like him.

“Okay. I approve.” Zayn nodded, giggling against Desi’s onslaught of affection. This side of her was so different from most of what Mac had seen, but it fit her. He continued to fidget, adding another paper clip to the collection.

Desi snorted. “You always approved. ‘Oh, Des, I got to meet Mac today. He’s so pretty! How can a man be so pretty? He’s also very nice and smart. I think you’ll like him.’”

Zayn squawked, covering their face with their hands. “You traitor!”

Something clicked. “And that’s why it mattered that it was me.”

“Because Zayn had a work crush on you.” Desi poked their side. “And didn’t want you to reject us. Which I knew you wouldn’t, because you’re a good guy.”

Mac laughed. Somehow, he couldn’t believe all of this. “Okay.” He pulled at his twisted paper clips. “So we’re gonna do it. We’ll figure this out.”

“Absolutely.” Desi broke into a grin, leaning down to kiss his and Zayn’s intertwined knuckles. 

He put the paper clips on the table. They were three interlocking hearts.

**Author's Note:**

> Why was Desi in that dress? Who was the date with? Why does she owe Jack? What does she do in her free time?  
> All burning questions I decided to answer in the most self-indulgent way possible. This was fun and I love them and I love Bi!Desi with all my heart. I hope you all had some fun with this, too.


End file.
